


traditions old & new

by Shinkirou



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Gen, New Year's Eve, New Years, Not Quite Gen, Presents, Secret Santa, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-23 04:54:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/618309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shinkirou/pseuds/Shinkirou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When she steals, sometimes she gets a little more than she bargained for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	traditions old & new

**Author's Note:**

  * For [serenbach](https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenbach/gifts).



"Here!"

There's a small wrapped box shoved under Vincent's nose, and his peripheral vision shows Yuffie standing there beaming at him as she waits for him to take it. It's apparently some sort of custom in Wutai to give gifts at the end of each year, and though Yuffie is more the taking type than the giving, she actually has given everyone else so far a present. (Well, as far as Vincent knows. Cid and Reeve aren’t with them, but everyone that is has gotten something from her.)

Though, judging from the slight glow Vincent sees radiation from her pocket, it’s been more of an exchange than a gift, which is probably how the tradition is supposed to go.

Really, it works out for all of them as far as Vincent knows – they must be aware by now that Yuffie had taken them, judging by the look on Tifa’s face, but nobody has come to reclaim them. Still, Vincent vaguely considers telling her to put them back – they'd all shared Christmas, and while Yuffie was originally rather ambivalent about the whole gift ‘giving’ thing, once it was her turn to open her gifts, she had seemed much more enthused. He decides against it because nobody _has_ told her to, and it is not his duty to retrieve their things for them. If anyone wants their materia back, they know where to find it. 

Apparently she realizes that he’s not going to open it just yet, because she puffs her cheeks up at him and says, “You’re hard to buy for, y’know? You could at least pretend to be happy, you don’t even know what it is!”

 _’I am,’_ he thinks but doesn’t say, because he _is_. After the mess with DEEPGROUND, when he’d thought he wouldn’t be able to come back, he’d been resigned – thankful, even. Staying in one place for so long, and getting attached to people again; he’d been relieved that he wouldn’t have to run the risk of losing people he cares about again. Wouldn’t have to worry about keeping them happy, or safe, and he could finally rest.

But he’d survived. 

When he’d come back, Yuffie had just smiled, grabbed his arm and said “welcome back”, like nothing had happened. Like the last time they spoke wasn’t in the middle of a life or death situation, where he wasn’t sure he’d ever see any of them again. Like she hadn’t been worried about him at all.

Perhaps she hadn’t been. Perhaps she knew he would return.

It’s impossible to tell, and so he doesn’t bother trying to. Yuffie’s changed. Looking at her now, it’s easy to see how much she’s grown from the spoiled brat in the forest to a capable, cunning ninja. Certainly, she still has her childish attitude sometimes, but then there are other moments where she’s thinking of tactics and helping rebuild her country.

She hates planning. 

The fact that she is royalty in Wutai does not escape any of them, but they never treat her as a princess because they all know she’d kill them. These people are the only ones she feels free to really be herself around. Vincent knows on some level that that list includes him, maybe even more so than the others after what had happened. Whether he wants her around or not, Vincent knows that Yuffie genuinely likes him, and that he won’t be able to get rid of her any time soon.

Not that he wants to. Even though he told her not to call his phone when he bought it, her number is still saved in his contacts. She texts him, occasionally, and though he rarely answers she never seems to give up. Even if she seems childish, they have been through a lot, and Vincent knows that he _trusts_ Yuffie, even though it’s not always a good idea to.

Yuffie glowers harder at him, so he shakes the package to indulge her. It makes no noise. It’s incredibly light, whatever it is, and even with his enhanced senses he can’t smell anything. Yuffie smirks as she sees him try, and chimes, “Nice try Vinny, but you have to open it to find out what it is~!”

Some part of him is curious, now, honestly, because there really isn’t much that gets past him. There’s a box inside the box, which Vincent figures must have been preventing him from smelling whatever is inside it, but this box is much smaller. After a moment, he realizes he _still_ can’t smell anything, and briefly wonders if there’s even anything in the box.

Carefully, he pulls off the lid. The shine of light off of metal greets him, and he realizes that he can’t smell it because it smells like _him_.

It’s the Cerberus pendant from his gun.

He’d thought it lost forever among all the wreckage after the showdown with Weiss. Logically there should be no way Yuffie could have gotten it – he’d had no idea where it had fallen, but amongst all the debris it likely would have landed in a difficult to reach place, or been buried at some point.

He sees Yuffie’s smile falter from the corner of his eye and realizes that he must still have a blank expression on his face. He looks up from the pendant just as she is about to open her mouth, and he interrupts her with a quiet “Thank you. How did you find it?” 

“Oh, jeez Vinny don’t do that! I thought you were upset and I was so confused! And yeah you’d better be thankful, I saw that thing shining from the ground and it was _really high up_ okay?! It took like a lot of climbing to get it, and everyone was yelling at me to get down, and it was just really stressful!” Yuffie’s jabbering, twirling her fingers through her scarf anxiously. She’s clearly still getting over the fear that he’d hated it, so he repeats, “Thank you… It means a lot to me.”

That seems to calm her down, because she stops fidgeting and laughs instead, “Well I’m glad. Like I said, you’re impossible to buy for, so if you hated this, you wouldn’t get anything from me.” Abruptly, she stands and declares, “And since I went through all that trouble, I am declaring myself worthy of calling you if I want to! So there!”

He considers telling her that she always could have, but he knows she already knows that.

… Probably.

He loops the chain back onto his gun, and they sit there a few more moments in silence before Yuffie gets fed up, which is coincidentally just as Tifa yells to them that there’s only one minute left until the new year so they’d better get over here now. Still, before Yuffie can say anything, he catches her glance and ever so slightly smiles at her. She blushes, but then seems enthusiastic again and says, “Alright Vinny, you heard the lady, quit your moping all alone and come do the countdown with us!” 

Vincent stands and follows her, and when she stands pressed arm to arm with him, he doesn’t say anything. When Yuffie shouts as the countdown hits zero, she grabs his hand.

He doesn’t pull away.


End file.
